1. “Raised us up together with Him” (Eph. 2:6; see also Col. 3:1).
Since we are in union with Christ in His death, we surely are in union with Him in His resurrection. Just as we died together with Him, we were raised together with Him. We died in His death, and we were made alive in His resurrection.
2. “Because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know...you in Me” (John 14:19-20).
Christ resurrected, and just as He lives, we also live because we are in Him and are in union with Him. He is living in resurrection, and since we are in Him, we have been resurrected together with Him to live together with Him.
1. “Seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).
Since we have died and resurrected together with Christ, we surely ascended together with Him. According to this verse, we are seated together with Him in the heavenlies. We are in union with Christ not only in His crucifixion and resurrection but also in His ascension. Because we are in union with Him, we partake not only of His death and resurrection but also of His ascension. His experiences are our history because we are in union with Him. His accomplishments are our gain: His death is our death; His resurrection is our resurrection; and His ascension is our ascension. What He has experienced, we have experienced. What He has attained, we have attained. We are seated in the heavenlies in Him because we are in union with Him.
1. “Everyone who believes into Him” (John 3:16).
When Christ was crucified, resurrected, and ascended, we were in union with Him in reality, but this reality was experientially applied to us when we believed into Him. When we believed into Him, we received Him and also entered into Him. Our receiving is related to receiving Him into us. Our entering into Him is related to our being in Him. Our receiving of Him and our entrance into Him make our union experiential. Our experience of the reality of our union with Christ began when we believed into Christ.
2. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27; see also Rom. 6:3).
Not only is our believing our entering into Christ to be in union with Him, but our baptism also is our entering into Christ to be in union with Him. Just as believing causes us to enter into Christ, baptism also causes us to enter into Him. Therefore, those who believe and have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
3. “Baptized into His death”; “Buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with Him” (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12).
According to spiritual reality, we died and resurrected together with Christ when He died and resurrected, but in our experience, this occurred when we were baptized. We have been baptized into Christ’s death and buried together with Him. We also have been raised together with Him. We experienced this death and resurrection together with Christ, however, when we were baptized. When we were baptized, our baptism was a baptism into Christ and into His death. Since we have been buried together with Him, we also have been raised together with Him. We experientially entered into union with Him through our death, burial, and resurrection with Him in baptism.
4. “Made alive together with Him” (Col. 2:13; see also Eph. 2:5).
When we were saved, God made us alive together with Christ. In our salvation Christ as life was imparted into our spirit through the Spirit. In our salvation our deadened spirit was made alive so that we could be joined as one spirit with Christ in our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
5. “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
When we were saved, God brought us into union with Christ. When we believed in Christ, God put us into Christ, causing us to partake of Christ and making Christ our wisdom. This wisdom includes righteousness, by which we obtained salvation through justification in the past, sanctification, according to which we can live a sanctified life today, and redemption, which is related to the redemption of our body in the future. When we were saved, God brought us into a union with Christ, making Christ our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This indicates that in our union with Christ, Christ is everything to us.
6. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
When God puts us into Christ in our salvation, we partake of Christ and enter into union with Him. Thus, we receive the element of Christ, which is the element of God and the element of the resurrection life. This element makes us a new creation in which the old things have passed away. We become a new creation because we are in Christ and are in union with Christ.